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3 Easy Ways To Safely Open Downloads on Android

Are you new to the Android operating system and are wondering you how you can open downloads on Android? If you answered yes, then continue reading this guide to find out how you can easily open downloads on Android. You might be thinking that it’s way easier to open downloads on your Windows PC, but after going through the methods mentioned below, you’ll be able to open your downloaded files on Android in seconds.

There are currently three different ways for opening downloaded files on Android. Note that you’ll be able to open only those files that are supported by Android or if you have a particular app that can open those files. So, for instance, you won’t be able to open exe files like you do on your Windows PC.

Method 1: Notifications Panel

This first method is probably the easiest and fastest way to open downloads on Android. This method is perfect if you want to open the file as soon as it finishes downloading.

If you want to store the downloaded file on your phone and want to open it later, then this method won’t be effective. The way this works is that many Android phones get notifications once the download is complete and you can directly open the file through that notification.

Step 1

Download the file on your Android smartphone or tablet. You might be able to see the download progress in your notifications panel.

Step 2

Once the download is complete, you’ll see a notification saying Download complete or something similar. Swipe down your notifications panel and tap on the downloaded file. That’s it! Your Android device will now open the downloaded file.

Method 2: Downloads App

Some Android devices have a dedicated app for downloads and you can launch it to access all your downloads. If your Android phone or tablet has such an app, then you can use it to open your downloaded files. Also, this is an effective method if you don’t want to open downloaded files right away.

Step 1

Download your desired file on your Android phone or tablet. If you don’t want to open it right away, you can swipe away the Download complete notification. Don’t worry, the downloaded file will stay on your phone.

Step 2

Open the Downloads app on your phone. You should now see a list of all your downloaded files. Open your desired downloaded file by tapping on it. That’s it!

Method 3: File Manager

The final method in this guide focuses on using a file manager to open downloaded files stored on your phone. Like Method 2, this method is also effective if you want to open files that you downloaded a while back.

If you don’t have a dedicated app for your downloaded files or you have too many downloaded files, then you can use this method to open downloads on Android.

Step 1

Open your default file manager app. If you don’t have any file manager installed on your phone, you can use a third party file manager, such as ES File Explorer. You can download it through the Google Play Store button below. Once downloaded, open the app on your Android device.

Step 2

Navigate to the Download folder on your phone. This is the folder where all your downloaded files are stored.

Step 3

Tap on your desired downloaded file to open it. That’s it!

Opening Files Using Third Party Apps

Even though Android is an incredible operating system, you can’t open all downloaded files on your Android smartphone or tablet. There are certain files that Android devices can open directly, such as audio and video files.

You cannot open files that are designed for other systems, such as exe files. However, there are some third party apps available that you can use in order to open files that many Android devices can’t open directly, such as mobi files, rar files and Microsoft Office files.

Here is a list of apps that you can use for opening downloaded files that you can’t open by default on Android.

Microsoft Office Files

Conclusion

You can easily open downloads on Android using any of the methods mentioned above. While some files will open directly, you might need third party apps for other file formats.

You can use the apps listed above for ebooks, Microsoft Office files and rar files. You can also look for third party apps on the Google Play Store and verified third party app stores for opening other types of downloaded files. Feel free to shoot your questions in the comments section below.

Reader Interactions

Comments (21)

This morning I got another update to from verizon o.t.a. I have a galaxy S5. The update took about 10 minutes to install. I will say just from 1 day, it appears to be a much needed update. I have no more error messages, my apps are behaving like they used to and nothing has notified me that it has unexpectedly stopped working. Seems very stable so I say thank you to Samsung. My android version still says 5.0 bUT my baseband version has changed to G900VVRU1BOC4. If you have any more info about this upate would love to know what all it is supposed to do. But s9 far call me happy.

Hi Steve,
It´s hard to tell without all the details, but it could have been that another app´s update could have caused the problems since updates are known to do that. The important thing is that everything is back to normal, glad to hear that and thanks for commenting. =-)

if I delete a download e-mail or just an e-mail where they come in on the Motorola phone, will this delete it from the Toshiba computer I use (or vice versa)? My phone is overloaded and I need to get rid of ‘stuff’ but I want to keep it on the regular computer.

Hey! I tapped to open a download and got a message asking me if I wanted to scan downloads for threats. I pressed “always” and now I can’t change the setting because it’s saying “unable to scan” on my downloaded APK. Can you please tell me how to disable that scan setting?

help!!I can’t open any files in my downloads foler.it say cant open file.do you know what to do.i have a motor e 2 gen Android phone.please explain what I can do.i do t have a file manager.i dont do good with electronics

Which file manager are you using? Some of them can be confusing to use. Also, you might not have an app that allows you to open that type of file on your phone. For example, if you don’t have Microsoft Word or Google Docs or something similar, you won’t be able to open a Word Doc on your phone. So make sure you have the appropriate app to open that kind of file.

Hey,
Just ran across your site and at first couple of glances it looks like it’s one of the most important sources of android information out here!
Thanks so much for making my life a little bit easier (maybe a lot ).

Method 3: File Manager is not always correct, depending on the phone, the Download folder is NOT where Downloads go from Email apps and such. They go to ANDROID/data/com.***.***/files/Download many people will never find their files just looking at the download folder of their storage.

For About a year, I was using the preinstalled download app in my nexus
to find and open my files.
Even tough the app is user friendly, I ended up downloading constantly the same files
several times cause the app have no search functionality,

let say I download a file 1 month ago,the problem, to retrieve that file, I had to scroll and read one file after another
I think some of your reader might encountered the same issues.

I recently build an app super user friendly that solve that issue,
very easy to use and everything at one place, with a powerful search